Extreme Rules (2011)
Extreme Rules (2011) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on May 1, 2011 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. It was the third Extreme Rules event. This was also the first WWE pay-per-view event to be held in Tampa since Survivor Series in 2000. The event's card consisted of eight matches, including three main matches. In the first, Randy Orton defeated CM Punk for Last Man Standing match. The second saw Kofi Kingston won the United States Championship against Sheamus. The third saw John Cena won the WWE Championship against The Miz for their rematch. The fourth saw Christian won the vacant World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio. The fifth saw Layla defeated her ex-partner Michelle McCool in what turned to be McCool's final televised match before her contact was expired and her creative differences. The event received 209,000 pay-per-view buys, up from last year's event of 182,000 buys. Storylines The professional wrestling matches at Extreme Rules involved professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines between the characters were produced on WWE's weekly television shows Raw and SmackDown with the Raw and SmackDown brands—storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees to different programs. Edge was originally scheduled to defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio in a ladder match. However, Edge retired on the April 11, 2011 episode of Raw due to a cervical spinal stenosis stemming from his neck injury. The match was scrapped and the title was vacated on the April 15 episode of SmackDown. Later, Edge's best friend, Christian, won a 20-man battle royal to face Del Rio in the ladder match for the title. In the interim, Del Rio was drafted to Raw in the 2011 WWE Draft. On the April 11 episode of Raw, John Cena, Randy Orton, John Morrison, Dolph Ziggler and R-Truth fought in a gauntlet match to determine the number one contender for The Miz's WWE Championship. Cena and Truth became the last two men remaining, but were attacked by The Miz and his protegé Alex Riley, resulting in a double disqualification. Afterwards, the anonymous Raw general manager announced that The Miz would defend his title against Cena and Truth at Extreme Rules, with the match later scheduled to be contested in a steel cage. The following week, Morrison (who had been eliminated by Truth in the gauntlet match) confronted Truth about his capability of competing in the match and challenged him to a match for his spot, which Truth accepted. Morrison won, thus replacing Truth at Extreme Rules. Truth then turned heel by viciously attacking Morrison afterwards, then lighting a cigarette and blowing smoke into Morrison's face. An ongoing feud involved Raw commentators Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. At WrestleMania XXVII, Lawler had made Cole submit to the ankle lock, but the anonymous Raw General Manager reversed the decision, thus making Cole the winner via disqualification. On the April 11 episode of Raw, Lawler defeated Cole's trainer, Jack Swagger, allowing him to team up with his former broadcast partner, Jim Ross, to face Cole and Swagger at Extreme Rules. Two weeks later, the Raw General Manager decided that the match would be a Country Whipping match. Another feud pitted the members of LayCool against each other. Dissension between Layla and Michelle McCool started on the April 8 episode of SmackDown when Michelle refused to tag Layla in a tag team match against Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly. Also, tension grew since they failed to get back the WWE Divas Championship several times and lost a six-person tag-team match at WrestleMania XXVII against Trish Stratus, John Morrison, and Snooki from Jersey Shore. The following two weeks, the two attended couple's therapy sessions, but the latter session ended with Michelle attacking Layla, solidifying their break up. During the 2011 WWE Draft, after Layla lost her match against Eve, she attacked Michelle for distracting her. On the April 29 episode of SmackDown, after fighting to a double count-out in their match, Layla and Michelle agreed to have a No Count-out, No Disqualification match at Extreme Rules with the loser leaving WWE. Another feud involved Rey Mysterio and Cody Rhodes. At WrestleMania XXVII, Cody Rhodes had defeated Rey Mysterio by using his protective face mask, followed by Cross Rhodes. On the April 22 episode of SmackDown, Rhodes and Mysterio would have a rematch; however, Mysterio defeated Rhodes. After the match, Rhodes attacked Mysterio from behind, performed a Cross Rhodes on a concrete floor, and put a paper bag on Mysterio. A Falls Count Anywhere match between the two was scheduled for Extreme Rules. Two matches were added to the card during the event. SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long added a match between Sheamus and Kofi Kingston for the WWE United States Championship. Also a Lumberjack match pitting the WWE Tag Team Champions, Big Show and Kane, against Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson was added. Aftermath Following the conclusion of Extreme Rules, news was breaking worldwide that Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. troops. WWE Champion John Cena addressed the live audience at the event with a speech about the events and American pride. Cena's announcement was replayed the next evening on WWE Raw in Miami, where Lilian Garcia performed the national anthem in the beginning of the show. Dwayne Johnson also addressed the issue prior to his birthday celebration and led the crowd in a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. After attacking Michelle McCool at the event, Kharma would attack female wrestlers on both the Raw and Smackdown brands with Layla fleeing. The night after Extreme Rules, Cena defended the WWE Championship against The Miz in a singles match after being restarted due to the referee noticing interference from Alex Riley. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * WWE Extreme Rules Category:Extreme Rules Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2011 Pay-Per-View Events